Did You Know That National Preparedness Month Starts Today?

Published at 11:30 a.m.

National Preparedness Month, which begins today, highlights hazard-focused themes leading up to the National PrepareAthon! Day on Wednesday, Sept. 30. During the month, FEMA and our emergency management office will be focusing on several specific hazards, encouraging us to be better prepared for them and offering suggestions on steps to take to be ready.

Over the course of the month, we’ll focus on flooding, hurricanes and power outages — all real events that can happen here and to any one of use at any time.

Throughout September, we encourage you to take part in preparedness activities and events, know what to do during an emergency and most importantly, make a plan. This means having an up-to-date contact list for those you may need to reach during a disaster and establishing alternate methods of communication in case traditional means are not available.

As we begin our focus on preparedness this month, one of the first steps you should take is to make an emergency plan. FEMA has emergency plan templates on its website that you can use. In addition, our emergency management office partnered with other emergency management agencies in Northern Virginia to createReadyNOVA.org, a website where you can create your family emergency plan online, save it to your personal computer or mobile device and print it out and keep it with you so you’ll have it when you need it. And the ReadyNOVA site will not save any of your personal information.

We realize that there are special months, weeks and days celebrated and recognized every day of the year and that National Preparedness Month might get lost in all the advertising of other special months, like Eat Chicken Month, Happy Cat Month, National Honey Month, National Mushroom Month, Update Your Resume Month, National Coupon Month and Shameless Promotion Month.

However… and we recognize the fact that we’re a little biased… the importance of making an emergency plan to prepare yourself and your family in case of an emergency seems a tad bit more important than some of these other recognitions, although we do like honey, chicken, mushrooms and saving money with coupons.

So make your emergency plan today (if you have one, update it) and stay tuned throughout the month for more on being prepared for any emergency. And for you over achievers looking to do more, use the 30 ways in 30 days preparedness tips.

Search Blog

View Posts By Category

Archives

Fairfax County Police Department News

SULLY DISTRICT STATION LARCENIES: 6000 block of Sunset Ridge Court, medicine from a home 6500 block of Sharps Drive, cellphone and wallet from store STOLEN VEHICLES: None reported. MOUNT VERNON DISTRICT STATION ROBBERY: Tamarind Street/Janna Lee Avenue, 12/8/16, around 8:00 a.m. A woman reported that while standing at the bus stop, a man grabbed her, […]

McLean Police District – Brandon Forrest, 30, of Washington D.C., was arrested and charged in Tuesday’s pursuit from Tysons Corner that ended on I-395 and Washington Boulevard. After the officers concluded their investigation, Forrest was taken to the adult detention center where he was charged with possession of stolen property with the intent to sell […]

SULLY DISTRICT STATION ROBBERY: 4300 Chantilly Shopping Center. 12/6/16, 8:49 p.m. A man entered the Jimmy Johns, pointed a gun at an employee and demanded money. The suspect ran out of the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. The employee was not injured. The suspect was described as black, about 5 feet 5 inches […]

Fair Oaks Police District – A man was charged for shining a laser on two officers on Tuesday, December 6. Just after 2 a.m., two officers, dressed in full uniform, responded to the 12200 block of Water Elm Lane for a report of concern for a garage door that was left partially open. As they […]